Deadline reports that British actress Holliday Grainger (Cinderella) is in final negotiations to join Roger Michell’s remake of My Cousin Rachel for Fox Searchlight, a dark romantic thriller previously captured on film in 1952 with screen legends Olivia de Havilland and Richard Burton.
Academy Award winner Rachel Weisz (The Constant Gardener) is set to play the titular role and Sam Claflin (Finnick in The Hunger Games franchise) will play Rachel’s cousin, Philip. Based on Daphne Du Maurier’s 1951 novel, the story follows a wealthy young man, Philip, who is convinced that his beloved older brother was murdered by his brother’s new wife and cousin, Rachel, whom Philip has never met. Initial hatred and plans for revenge for his brother’s widow morph into falling head over heels in love with the beautiful and enigmatic Rachel when she comes to stay with Philip for a visit. Still, her actions continue to raise suspicion – did she or did she not murder her husband, and what is Rachel really after?
Grainger was recently seen in Lone Scherfig’s The Riot Club, Kenneth Branagh’s Cinderella and opposite Casey Affleck (Interstellar) and Chris Pine (Star Trek Beyond) in The Finest Hours. She next stars in Justin Chadwick’s Tulip Fever opposite Academy Award nominee Alicia Vikander (The Danish Girl), Cara Delevingne (Paper Towns) and two-time Academy Award winner Christoph Waltz (Inglorious Basterds, Django Unchained).